National Style 1.5 Tricone

Nickel plated tricone resonator guitar with subtle but attractive engraving on edge along front sides and back. Made in 2008. 12 frets to the body. It is set up for fretting but high enough for slide work. The tuners are National brand. I think they should have gone with Waverly tuners. The stock tuners were tight and difficult to work. I asked the company for replacements which they promptly sent to me.

I play delta blues and folk finger style on this and the sound is genuine and loud. Normally I play without picks but this guitar needs to have metal on metal. The tonal variations are much better than on a single cone resonator. I have a 1923 Style N to compare it to. I like to use the tone variation in my playing and this resonator allows that.

The setup on the guitar was right on. When I pulled it out for the first time I was immediately enthralled. Unfortunately it got roughed up a bit in shipping and after about an hour of playing I heard it go clunk and the sound went dead. I called National and talked with them and they quickly decided that the shipping had caused the spider bridge to shift. They got in touch with our local repair man and he made it right and that wonderful sound was back. The other downside, and something that National should address at the shop, is the tendency for the cover plate to vibrate against the body causing a rattle. I again called National and talked with their head tech who advised me on how to place a small electrical tape gasket around the cone opening isolating the cover plate from the body. I did this painstakingly and although it cured the problem I was a bit miffed at having to do a down home fix on a known problem. But once done I was off and flying with this machine, and that is the best way to describe it. The cool Deco design, the tonal variation and it volume all add up to making this a blues monster machine. Only other thing that about this and any National metal body guitar is keeping it clean. Every finger print shows and if not taken care of can start eating into the plating.

This will out last my life time by at least a factor of two!!

Despite the problems I had the support was excellent. I felt that I got individual treatment and that is important in my opinion.

I've been playing guitar for 45 years now (man that sounds like an awful long time!!) Have studied Classical, Jazz, Folk and everything else. This was my first foray into resonators and I love it! I was able to compare this to a 1923 Style N single as well a newer tricone and was still convinced on this. I got the Style 1.5 because of the subtle styling like the engraving, the pearloid head stock, slotted head and natural stained neck. I'm a traditionalist I guess. I'm not attracted to the gaudy.